Has anyone taken their dog to the EU from the U.K. since Brexit? Can you check my understanding?

[Clymene]

I've taken my dog on the eurotunnel several times but his rabies vacc has expired and his pet passport is invalid anyway now.

So this is my understanding- everything works exactly the same as it did (ie you have to get a rabies vacc more than 21 days before you go and a tapeworm treatment >24/

Yes that's exactly right. It's actually easier than it sounds on paper, but the health certificate is expensive (around £180 depending on where you get it done).

This vet is recommended. They are cheaper than most and they do loads of AHC.

www.abbeywellvets.co.uk/

Yep, we did this for the first time last month and got stung by the tapeworm treatment to get back into the UK, no idea how I missed the info - the vets didn’t mention it at all.

The vet I got the health certificate from said they weren’t going to be doing it for much longer. No idea how I’ll get one if we travel with ddog again.

£180!! Good grief. And I thought the passport was pricey.

Thanks for the rec @dollymuchymuchness - is it something you can do online?

Maybe I'll leave him with the dog boarder. It'll be cheaper!

RVC recommends charge is £180 for the AHC but PassPets near Portsmouth does them for £99 and you can find them even cheaper if you shop around. Google is your friend! My vets tried to charge £280 + £75 for rabies vacc.

We got stung by it the first time we travelled as well and then had to get a vet in Calais to do it (and stay an extra night with the dog in the Ibis in Calais). But if you follow the rules, the whole procedure was fairly easy

Yes. The vets I worked at charged £220 to do them. They are ridiculously complicated and take at least an hour of the vets time- it's not like we don't already have a vet shortage in this country.

We charge £250 as they take hours and hours to complete! We don’t want to do them - very happy for people to go elsewhere to have them done. It’s a needlessly complex system.

Exactly this, except there was not a single hotel room available in Calais and we had to drive back the way we had come for an hour to find somewhere to stay!

I think the vets charged £80 for the health certificate?

We're currently in Denmark with our pup. You've got all the necessary steps, other things to note are the AHC needs to be in the language of the country you and you're not technically allowed to take dog food into the EU

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachmentdata/file/968963/GBBPetHealthhCertificate--Wordformat.docx

This is the form isn't it? I agree it's a stupid system but I can't see how that takes hours and hours to fill in?

@Clymene , can't see the link but the form does take hours to fill in. You have to be really careful as very easy to make a mistake and cause someone a massive problem and probably get sued .
Exactly as others say, we hate doing them and are very happy for people to go elsewhere for it.
There is a nice loophole, if you have a house abroad, you can get an EU passport issued for your dog while you are abroad, that is then valid for travel to and from the uk.

Yes I can see that. It's such a crappy system. Unfortunately I don't have a house in France. Maybe I'll buy one. Probably cheaper :D

Clymene, the form was for the vets, they are putting their name on it. Support staff only knew they existed, we needed to book an hour out, take countries they were planning to travel through and check vaccine status.

If someone is driving through several countries to get to the destination they all need the relevant form.

If someone is driving through several countries to get to the destination they all need the relevant form.

You only need the AHC to be in the language of the country where you'll first enter the EU. We've travelled to Denmark but the AHC is in Dutch as that's where we came in on the ferry.

So my form needs to be in French? Oh ffs. This is ridiculous!

We're only going for a week. Seriously beginning to think it's not worth the hassle and the cost. He can stay in kennels or something.

It’s £99 from Abbeywell vets. You can do everything online and collect the AHC on your way to the tunnel. Follow the link. animalhealthcertificate.online/

So my form needs to be in French?

It's always dual language so French and English if you're going via the tunnel.

It's all quite straightforward, just costly. Pay the vet, give them the relevant info and they'll produce the form in both languages.

I took my dog 3 months ago. With the rabies vaccin, it cost me £250. The vet made it clear she hates doing them. She was so worried missing out something and us not allowed in. As it is, all they cared about was vaccination and checking for the chip. They didn't even look beyond the first page.

The worse of it is that it's only valid for 4 months at a time!

Thankfully I have family in France and we got a Euro passport. They had to do the rabies vaccin again but that was no issue. All together, with the worming tablet and visit, it only cost 70 euros!

So pleased we won't have to do it again, it's a nightmare for all involved. My vet here was over the moon we were getting a pet passport in France!

So with a french pet passport, no need for the animal health certificate?

We’ve just done it via the tunnel. Paid £180 at local vet. We still have our dogs EU passport and he said if you have an address in Europe use that because it’s £180 each time you travel unlike the original passport which is a one off payment.

French official at the pet check in at Calais also told us to get a French address. Dh is from the EU so we will use his family address.

Ok we have literally just done this.

So get a new rabies vaccination then find a vet that will issue an Animal Health Certificate- they are hard to find. My normal vet didn't and I had to keep phoning around to find one. (SE London). Then book dog in 10 days or less prior to travel. Take dog and vaccination records and copy of health records if it's not your own vet. Pay around £180 for the privilege. Go through eurotunnel as before.

When in France etc you do need to get the dog to a French vet 5-1 days before coming back for a tapeworm treatment to be recorded on your dog's health certificate.

Fairly easy. Cheaper than putting dog into kennels. That's how I thought of it.

If you have an address in an EU country (holiday house) you can find a sympathetic vet who will issue an EU pet passport. But you must have all rabies vaccinations done in that country going forward.

Also if you have a UK issued pet passport dated before 1 Jan 2021 to uk gov website says it is still valid.

Thanks aol. Will get the dog's rabies vacc updated and added to his vacc card and then use the Folkestone vet for the AHC. Unfortunately we have no holiday home and the pet passport was issued in the U.K.

I don't think it will be cheaper than boarding him but he will be happier

I don't think that is correct

Any pet passports issued in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales), including the Channel Islands and Isle of Man, are now invalid for travel to an EU country or Northern Ireland. You can still use your pet passport if it was issued in an EU country or Northern Ireland and are travelling to another EU country.

www.bluecross.org.uk/advice/pets/taking-pets-abroad-after-brexit